I haven’t blogged much since my #30posts project came to a close. This isn’t what I thought would happen. I thought I’d blog more, and accordingly, write more. And better.
What instead happened was that I got stuck. I think a lot of other writers attempting to keep a semi-regular blog can sympathize. I wanted to write about Amanda Todd, and I did, at length, but what came out was too sad to publish. I wrote about bullying, about being bullied, about working in elementary schools and watching the kids’ (sometimes troubling) dynamics with each other. I wrote, at length, about how parents need to be parents, how educators needed to step up, about all kinds of stuff. But let’s be honest — none of that stuff matters. Or, rather, it does matter, incredibly so, but my writings on the subject wouldn’t have gone anywhere. My blog posts would be another few in the pile, made as if to languish.
What will go somewhere? I’m not sure. The success of #30posts had a lot to do with me just sitting down and writing blog posts. Not “I ate a cantaloupe today”-type posts, but rather posts that informed who I am, what I want, what writing and blogging can and should be about. I did a bit of writing with The Barnstormer lads about sports, and that got me interested and hungry again, but it didn’t quite solve the issue. So I did what I always do — I started reading.
Lately I’ve been fortunate to read a lot of pieces, recently, that discuss current issues that I care about, that are of import, and even some that are just thought-provoking (if not as important as some of the others). It’s those writers, and those pieces, that I wish to single out here.
+ Emma Woolley‘s brave, brilliant piece “What It’s Like Being a Teen Girl” written in the wake of a series of sexual assaults in Toronto.
+ UnWinona‘s (don’t know her name) story about horrible men and a horrible Metro trip that, predictably received a lot of attention — both good and bad.
+ ThinkProgress’s piece on the GOP donors behind the voter intimidation/suppression billboards ostensibly aimed at keeping pro-Obama voters at home on election day.
+ Salon‘s piece on people falling for their helper monkeys robots.
+ Buzzfeed FWD‘s post about the asshole who was spreading misinformation via Twitter while Sandy was wrecking shit in New York.
+ Comedian Rob Delaney‘s post “After Sandy” which was about (among other things) NICUs, Medicaid and voting.
These are but the tip of the iceberg. The internet is full of this kind of goodness. It was made for this goodness. I look forward to sharing more of my stories, and stories like the links above, going forward.